Who leads Germany's auto market in 2005?

Europe's largest car maker, Volkswagen, in 2005 dominated the German automobile market, according to a study released Tuesday.

Between January and November, VW sold 571,335 cars, giving it a market share of 18.5 percent, according to the Kraftfahrzeugbundesamt, a federal office monitoring new automobile licenses.

Mercedes came in at second place (322,591 cars), with Opel, which is owned by General Motors, taking third with 318,358 cars.

The strongest import brand is French car maker Renault with 154,028 cars sold and a market share of 5 percent.

The best-selling car in Germany in 2005 was VW's Golf/Jetta model, a mid-sized model of which nearly 222,000 units were sold.

The more expensive categories were led by the Audi A6 and the Mercedes CLS. Bavarian car maker BMW has lost the spot in the top three for overall sales, but heads the sports utility sector with its X3 model.

Source: UPI

atomicbri - 12/14/2005 9:11:21 AM

+1 Boost

Mercedes has a lot more affordable products in Germany than in the States... The A-Class and B-Class are in reach of more everyday "Volks" and the C-Class and E-Class as a lot smaller engine options and cloth seats!!! (LOL) In America, Mercedes just offers higher standard kit and its most powerful motors on the models it sells here to keep up the "high class" image it has always had here.

atomicbri - 12/16/2005 11:01:49 AM

+1 Boost

Lord Buster I guess you know all. My grandfather lives in Munich and I have been there many times. Yes people do have money when you compare US salaries to German ones. Factory workers there make roughly $38-$52 an hour compared to $15-$25 here. So yes there items seem more expensive to us because we make a lot less than they do. But Mercedes offers a lot more cars there at a lower price point than what they offer in the US. Sales of the A-Class and B-Class have helped MB steal sales away from the traditional VW Golf buyer. So my point was MB is doing well since they now offer a wider range of smaller class vehicles.